PLS-based EWMA fault detection strategy for process monitoring

Fault detection (FD) and diagnosis in industrial processes is essential to ensure process safety and maintain product quality. Partial least squares (PLS) has been used successfully in process monitoring because it can effectively deal with highly correlated process variables. However, the conventional PLS-based detection metrics, such as the Hotelling's T² and the Q statistics are ill suited to detect small faults because they only use information from the most recent observations. Other univariate statistical monitoring methods, such as the exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control scheme, has shown better abilities to detect small faults. However, EWMA can only be used to monitor single variables. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to combine the advantages of the univariate EWMA and PLS methods to enhance their performances and widen their applicability in practice. The performance of the proposed PLS-based EWMA FD method was compared with that of the conventional PLS FD method through two simulated examples, one using synthetic data and the other using simulated distillation column data. The simulation results clearly show the effectiveness of the proposed method over the conventional PLS, especially in the presence of faults with small magnitudes.     

Ecological and Economic Services Provided by Birds on Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee Farms

Abstract: Coffee farms can support significant biodiversity, yet intensification of farming practices is degrading agricultural habitats and compromising ecosystem services such as biological pest control. The coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei) is the world's primary coffee pest. Researchers have demonstrated that birds reduce insect abundance on coffee farms but have not documented avian control of the berry borer or quantified avian benefits to crop yield or farm income. We conducted a bird‐exclosure experiment on coffee farms in the Blue Mountains, Jamaica, to measure avian pest control of berry borers, identify potential predator species, associate predator abundance and borer reductions with vegetation complexity, and quantify resulting increases in coffee yield. Coffee plants excluded from foraging birds had significantly higher borer infestation, more borer broods, and greater berry damage than control plants. We identified 17 potential predator species (73% were wintering Neotropical migrants), and 3 primary species composed 67% of migrant detections. Average relative bird abundance and diversity and relative resident predator abundance increased with greater shade‐tree cover. Although migrant predators overall did not respond to vegetation complexity variables, the 3 primary species increased with proximity to noncoffee habitat patches. Lower infestation on control plants was correlated with higher total bird abundance, but not with predator abundance or vegetation complexity. Infestation of fruit was 1–14% lower on control plants, resulting in a greater quantity of saleable fruits that had a market value of US$44–$105/ha in 2005/2006. Landscape heterogeneity in this region may allow mobile predators to provide pest control broadly, despite localized farming intensities. These results provide the first evidence that birds control coffee berry borers and thus increase coffee yield and farm income, a potentially important conservation incentive for producers.     

Epidemiologic Analysis of Factors Associated with Local Disappearances of Native Ranid Frogs in Arizona

Abstract:  We examined factors that may independently or synergistically contribute to amphibian population declines. We used epidemiologic case–control methodology to sample and analyze a large database developed and maintained by the Arizona Game and Fish Department that describes historical and currently known ranid frog localities in Arizona, U.S.A. Sites with historical documentation of target ranid species ( n = 324) were evaluated to identify locations where frogs had disappeared during the study period (case sites) and locations where frog populations persisted (control sites). Between 1986 and 2003, 117 (36%) of the 324 sites became case sites, of which 105 were used in the analyses. An equal number of control sites were sampled to control for the effects of time. Risk factors, or predictor variables, were defined from environmental data summarized during site surveys and geographic information system data layers. We evaluated risk factors with univariate and multifactorial logistic-regression analyses to derive odds ratios (OR). Odds for local population disappearance were significantly related to 4 factors in the multifactorial model. Disappearance of frog populations increased with increasing elevation (OR = 2.7 for every 500 m, p < 0.01). Sites where disappearances occurred were 4.3 times more likely to have other nearby sites that also experienced disappearances (OR = 4.3, p < 0.01), whereas the odds of disappearance were 6.7 times less (OR = 0.15, p < 0.01) when there was a source population nearby. Sites with disappearances were 2.6 times more likely to have introduced crayfish than were control sites (OR = 2.6, p = 0.04). The identification of factors associated with frog disappearances increases understanding of declines occurring in natural populations and aids in conservation efforts to reestablish and protect native ranids by identifying and prioritizing implicated threats.     

The Impact of Agriculture On Dissolved Nitrogen and Phosphorus Cycling in Temperate Ecosystems

Although most research has focussed on inorganic nutrient forms of nitrate (NO^-₃) and phosphorus (PO³₄) in runoff and receiving waters, nitrogen loss from agricultural land can also occur in organic and ammonium-nitrogen form; phosphorus losses, although often dominated by particulate transport, may occur in soluble organic and inorganic form. Furthermore, fluxes between different species may take place during transport from the land to the stream and as a result of in-stream, in-river or in-lake transformations. Knowledge of the spatial and temporal variation in all nitrogen species and phosphorus fractions in a drainage basin is therefore essential if the wider environmental significance of elevated nutrient concentrations in natural waters are to be assessed. This paper reviews recent work on N and P losses from agricultural land and presents some results from two intensive agricultural catchments: Slapton, Devon and the river Windrush catchment in the Cotswolds.     

城市固体垃圾焚烧的二次污染控制实现技术

由于城市固体垃圾的复杂多变性及不确定性,难以实现对垃圾的充分燃烧,常因控制不当而产生二次污染。针对二次污染控制问题,文章采用变频调速技术与智能控制技术相结合,提高系统的响应速度,满足垃圾焚烧对空(气)燃(料)比的严格需要,有效保证了垃圾的充分燃烧,减少了烟气对大气环境的二次污染。在讨论城市固体垃圾特性基础上,分析了二次污染产生的条件,探讨了优化燃烧过程的控制策略、风量调节方式、系统构架及相关技术问题。     

编制滇池流域水污染防治"十一五"规划的初步设想

从回顾滇池流域水污染防治“九五”计划和“十五”计划的编制入手,分析了1995、2000、2005年滇池流域的水污染变化趋势,提出了编制“十一五”规划的初步设想。     

上海市机动车排污状况与污染控制战略

通过对上海市中心城区机动车行驶工史现状的主要特点及发展趋势的分析，计算出中心城区１９９５年机动车尾气排放的ＣＯ、ＮＭＨＣ和ＮＯｘ负荷，分别占区域内机动车和固定源产排放总量的７６％、９３％和４４％，据预测，到２０１０年，中心城区内机动车排出的ＣＯ、ＮＭＨＣ和ＮＯｘ负荷，将分别占区域中机动车和固定源排放总量的９４％、９８％和７５％，因此，针对机动车排污所面临的严峻挑战，需要采取加强机动车检查与维修（Ｉ     

浅析沘江水体污染

Bi江水质已为劣V类，主要污染物为Pb,Zn,Cd,As,Hg等重金属，主要污染源是上游的兰坪铅锌矿。水污染已对Bi江两岸人民的生活，生产和健康造成极大影响。目前条件下一要侧重生物多样性保护，治理水土流失，恢复和重建生态环境，二要侧重工业污染防治。     

Effects of environmental factors on the production and release of matrix-bound phosphine from lake sediments

Effects of pH, temperature, and oxygen on the production and release of phosphine in eutrophic lake sediments were investigated under laboratory tests. Results indicated that the elimination of matrix-bound phosphine was accelerated under initial pH 1 or 12. Phosphine levels could reach maximum under initial pH 10. The contents of phosphine increased with the addition of alkali under pH 4–12. The rates of phosphine production and release from lake sediments varied with temperature. 20°C was the most favorable temperature for the production of matrix-bound phosphine. Oxygen showed little effect on matrix-bound phosphine. Matrix-bound phosphine concentrations in lake sediments were concluded to be dependent on a balance of natural generation and depletion processes. Translated from Acta Scientise Circumstantiae, 2005, 25(5): 681–685 [译自: 环境科学学报]     

污水处理的新技术与新发展

介绍我国对水污染控制认识的发展和深化，阐述了污水生物处理方面的研究和新进展，包括在微生物方面的研究和新反应器、新工艺的发展。同时，讨论了新型、高效化学混凝剂和絮凝剂的开发成功，使化学法用于城市污水的处理成为可能。并提出任何一种新的处理工艺和反应器都各有其优缺点和适用条件，不能认为某一种就是最好，最先进的，可以无条件适用各种情况的。